mediumfeature

Despite the recent slide in the Chinese stock markets, the dramatic increase in travel by China’s millions appears unabated. This remains the biggest pie that several world tourism markets, including China’s own domestic industry, are trying to tap in the new year. Among them are Vancouver tourism officials, who anticipate Chinese tourists will continue to be a key part of the local sector in driving the visitor total to another record high in 2016.

largefeature

Air Canada is increasing the frequency of its new Vancouver-Brisbane non-stop service, six months before even a single flight has taken off. The announcement comes as Vancouver International Airport is gaining a full slate of new flights through next summer, propelling its annual passenger count beyond the 20-million mark for the first time in its history.

Vancouver International Airport is welcoming a flurry of new direct destinations next year from across both the Pacific and the Atlantic, but the newest route with the highest strategic potential may be a flight that will travel mostly over land, starting next week.

Sarah Ryan fell in love with woodworking as a young child hanging out with her grandfather. “I would go there every day after school and spend time in his garage,” Ryan, 24, said of her childhood in Ireland. “We made a swing and benches. He let me use the drills and everything.”

Despite having good friends in Orkney, visiting there was never on our bucket list. It just didn’t seem...inviting! But when we received an invitation to our friends' wedding, our priorities quickly changed and suddenly my husband Tom, our preteen daughter, Sarah, and I were booked for an August holiday to Orkney! Orkney refers to a group of about 70 small islands on the Northern tip of Scotland, of which only 20 are inhabited.

Let's get one thing straight: When it comes to Transylvania, it's not all about vampires and the Prince of Darkness. Sure, it's home to spooky-looking, precipitous castles that are Gothic enough to curdle the blood of myriad Bram Stoker fans and rammed with nods to Vlad the Impaler, the 15th-century real-life Dracula inspiration.

When you're accelerating at six metres a second, there's little doubting London's reputation as a dynamic city. We're in the elevator, shooting smoothly up the inside of The Shard, the capital's - and the European Union's - tallest building.

We are like a modern-day shoal on the craggy Cornish coastline snug in the southwestern corner of England: A phalanx of starter surfers, affectionately dubbed grommets by the locals, sweeping into shore on our boards, a shimmer of wetsuits topped with red and yellow vests.

Tourism operators around B.C.’s Cariboo region spent some nervous days fielding calls from arriving guests and talking them out of cancelling reservations after the Aug. 4 tailings-dam breach at Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley mine near Williams Lake. They appear to have succeeded, for the most part, after aerial images of the giant gash in Mount Polley’s tailings dam gushing a torrent of grey muck down Hazeltine Creek spread worldwide almost instantly, leaving an impression of widespread damage.

Even with Europe's super-efficient public transportation system, there are times when it makes sense to rent a car. Having your own wheels is ideal for getting to more remote or rural places that aren't covered as well by public transportation: England's Cotswolds, Norway's fiord country, Spain's Picos de Europa mountains, France's Normandy beaches, and Tuscan hill towns.

A Dutch man at the centre of a multi-jurisdictional cyberbullying and extortion case tied to the 2012 suicide of B.C. teen Amanda Todd could be tried in any of the countries where the attacks occurred, including Canada, a Vancouver immigration lawyer says.Zool Suleman said he suspects the countries involved in the investigation — which include the Netherlands, where the man was arrested and charged, as well as the U.K. and the United States — may have already come up with a plan for who gets him first.Canada could be a strong contender because of the high-profile nature of the case involving 15-year-old Amanda, Suleman said, but noted any extradition attempts could drag on for years. The situation is also muddied by the fact there are victims in other countries, and the suspect could accuse the government of “prosecution shopping” and argue that he wants to be tried in his home country. “The problem with Internet-based crimes is that the location becomes convoluted,” Suleman said. “While the perpetrator is in country A, the crimes were perpetrated in country B and C and D. The weapon is the Internet. It becomes quite complicated.”RCMP confirmed Thursday they have laid pornography, extortion and Internet luring charges against the suspect, identified as 35-year-old Aydin Coban, in connection with Amanda’s suicide in 2012. The National Public Prosecutor’s Office in the Netherlands says there could be several dozen victims in multiple countries.The man, who is suspected of inciting children and young people to commit sexual acts over webcams, was arrested after authorities in the Netherlands were tipped off by a U.S. Internet service provider. Both Coquitlam RCMP and the U.K. National Crime Agency took credit for helping to provide the evidence needed to arrest him.The man, who was arrested in January, made his first court appearance in an Amsterdam court Wednesday, charged with multiple offences linked to luring young girls to expose themselves online and then blackma

Pilsner Urquell's recipe hasn't changed since 1842, when citizen brewers in the town of Pilsen, Czech Republic, frustrated at the quality of beer served in local inns, combined their knowledge and skills to brew a better-tasting beer.

All Nippon Airways will begin offering daily, non-stop service between Vancouver and Tokyo’s Haneda Airport beginning March 30. The new flights are a result of recent liberalization of Canada’s air-service agreement with Japan and will boost YVR’s overall capacity to Tokyo by 30 per cent.

A tourist in western India sparked controversy on a safari recently when he broke up a fight between two male tigers. Vishal Chaudhari was riding with friends in an off-road vehicle on the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve when the roaring, bloody confrontation began.

Calin Rovinescu is quick to note that Air Canada’s financial turnaround isn’t a one-year story with himself in the starring role. It’s a long-term story and the cast of starring players runs deep, the airline’s chief executive officer said during an interview this week.

A Simon Fraser University academic was halfway to Addis Ababa when he was unceremoniously dumped from the speakers’ roster at a prestigious conference he was to open because his plain talk about problems in how aid is spent seems to have irked a South African bureaucrat. Morten Jerven, an associate professor at SFU’s school for international studies, has been making waves — but not like this — with a book, published last spring, called Poor Numbers: How we are Misled by African Development Statistics and What to Do about It.

Almost Done!

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.